Manually-controlled dental engine.



' No. 879,254. PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908.

r J. GAUTHIBR.

MANUALLY CONTROLLED DENTAL ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18. 1907.

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AMI/way '5 110.879.25 1. PATENTED PEB.18, 190a.

- J. L. GAUTHIER.

MANUALLY CONTROLLED DENTAL ENGINE. APPLIGATION FILED MAY 18. 1907.

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JEAN L. GAUTHIER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

MANUALLY-CONTROLLED DENTAL ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed May 18. 1907- Serial No. 374.364-

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JEAN LOUIS GAUTHIER, a citizen of the United States,residing at WVashington, District of Columbia, have in Vented certainnew and useful lmprovem ents in Manually-Controlled Dental Engines; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, suchas will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in manuallycontrolled and operated dental engines and my object is to provide meansfor rapidly rotating a drill or r cleaning brush, by directing pressureon the operating parts with the thumb.

A further object is to provide means for increasing the revolution ofthe drill over the natural speed produced by the operating mechanism anda still further object is to pro vide means for rotating the drill, etc,in one direction, while the operating mechanism is given an intermittentrotary movement through the medium of a rocking lever.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter referred to and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are made a part of this application,Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved engine showing the same inoperation. Fig. 2 is an elevation thereof, with one face of the casingremoved. Fig. 3 is an edge elevation of the operating parts of theengine removed from the casing. Fig. 4 is an elevation of that form ofengine having the drill extended from one end thereof, the casing beingshown in section, and, Fig. 5 is a sectional view as seen on line 55,Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings in which similar reference numerals designatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, 1 indicates a casing,one end of which is reduced in size to form a handle 2, so that thecasing may be readily grasped, and retained by the operator.

Located in the enlarged portion of the casing is my improved drill, orcleaning brush operating mechanism, which consists of a lever 3, saidlever being pivotally mounted upon a shaft 4 extendinglaterally throughthe center of the casing 1, one end of said lever being provided with acurved arm 5, which extends through a slot 6 in one wall of the handleportion 2, and is provided with a disk, or thumb plate 7, at its freeend, whereby pressure may be applied on the lever to 1e ciprocate thesame.

The upper end of the lever 3 is enlarged and provided with a rack bar 8,which is adapted to mesh with a pinion 9 carried by a shaft 10, whichshaft is fixed in a frame 11, carried within the casing 1.

One end of the pinion 9 has fixed thereto a ratchet wheel 12, which isadapted to cooperate with a pawl 13 pivotally mounted on a driving gear14, mounted on said shaft 10 said pawl being held in engagement with theratchet wheel in any preferred. manner, as by securing a spring 15 toone edge of the driving gear 14 and directing the free end of the springover the pawl 13 and in engagement therewith, under tension. By thisconstruction it will be seen that when pressure is applied to the thumbplate 7, the lever 3 will be rocked upon the shaft 4 and the upper endor rack bar moved to the left of the vertical center of the casing,which will result in rotating the pinion 9 and ratchet wheel carriedthereby to the right and as the pawlis held in engagement with theratchet wheel and is fixed to the driving gear, said driving gear willbe correspondingly driven to the right and as soon as the lever has beenmoved to the left its fullest extent, the pressure is released from thethumb plate 7, whereupon a spring linger 16, fixed at its lower end tothe handle section and having its free end in engagement with that endof the lever 4 carrying the arm 5, will return the lever 3 to itsinitial position and move the arm 5 outwardly through the slot 6, thelateral movement of the lever 3 being limited by means of a stop pin 17extending through an elongated opening 18 in the lever at a point abovethe shaft 4.

When the lever is returned to its initial position, the pinion 9 andratchet wheel are given a reverse movement, in which instance the pawlwill yield and drag over the edge of the ratchet wheel, thereby allowingthe driving gear 14 to continuously move in one direction and bycontinually rocking the lever upon its bearing shaft, the driving gear14 will be given a continuous rotation.

l/Vhen the cleaning brush or drill 19 is to extend from one face of thecasing, a drill shaft 20 is rotatably mounted in the frame 11 and oneend thereof extended through the casing 1 and arranged to receive theshank of the drill, and in order to rotate the drill shaft 20, a pinion21 is fixed thereto and placed in mesh with the driving gear 14, so thatwhen the driving gear is rotated, the drill shaft 20 will becorrespondingly rotated and in order to increase the revolution of thedrill shaft beyond the natural rotation thereof by the driving gear 14,and at the same time cause the drill to rapidly rotate when the ratchetwheel and operating parts therefor are on their reverse movement, abalance wheel 22 is likewise fixed to the drill shaft 20, so that afterthe drill shaft is started, the momentum of the balance wheel will causethe drill shaft to rotate a certain number of revolutions after theoperation of the lever is stopped. It will further be seen that byproviding the balance wheel 22, the revolutions of the drill will bemore uniform, and any sudden stoppage of the drill prevented. If,however, it is desired to immediately stop the rotation of the drill, Iprovide a brake shoe 23, which is secured to one end of a spring bar 24,the opposite end of said bar being fixed to one wall of the casing, andwhen it is desired to quickly stop the rotation of the drill, the shoe23 is moved into engagement with the periphery of the balance wheel 22,this result being accomplished by directing pressure on a press button25 extending through one wall of the casing, the inner end of the pressbutton being secured to the spring bar 24.

In Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings, I have shown the drill as secured tooperating parts extending from the forward end of the casing, instead offrom one side thereof, and, in this instance, the drill shaft 20 isextended par allel with the longitudinal axial plane of the casing 1,and instead of employing a driving gear with the teeth on the peripheraledge thereof, I provide a bevel gear 26, with which is adapted to mesh abevel pinion 27, secured to the inner end of the shaft 20, and in thisconstruction, the bevel gear is placed on the opposite side of thedriving mechanism from that occupied by the driving gear 14.

IVhen the drill shaft is extended from the forward end of the casing,the balance wheel 22 extends in a horizontal position and each face ofthe casing 1 is provided with a curved cavity 28 for the reception ofthe balance wheel.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a very cheap and economicalform of dental engine and one that can be readily and positivelyoperated by directing manual pressure on parts of the engine,'and whilethe engine is adapted more particularly for use in cleaning teeth, itwill be readily understood that the same may be employed for drilling orother purposes.

My dental engine will be found to be reli-' ably efficient for a largenumber of purposes,

and that it will develop a great amount of power, and that there are butvery few parts, each being of the simplest character and construction.

What I claim is:

1. In an engine of the class described, the combination with a drillshaft, a balance wheel on said shaft and a pinion fixed to said shaft ofa driving gear adapted to mesh with said pinion, a ratchet wheel, a pawlpivotally secured to said driving gear one end of which is adapted toengage the ratchet wheel, whereby the driving gear will be given arotating movement, while the rotation of the ratchet wheel isintermittent, a pinion fixed to said ratchet and means tointermittinglyrotate said pinion and ratchet, whereby the drill shaftwill be operated.

2. In a dental engine of the class described, the combination with adrill shaft, a pinion fixed to said shaft and a balance wheel fast onsaid shaft, of a driving gear adapted to mesh with said pinion, a leverpivotally mounted below said driving gear, said lever having anelongated opening above its pivot point, a stop pin extending throughsaid opening, adapted to limit the swinging movement of the lever, meanscooperating with the upper end of said lever and driving gear to rotatesaid driving gear and an arm integral with the lower end of said leverand extending laterally therefrom, whereby pressure may be applied tothe lever and the same rocked on its pivot point.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

WV. T. FITZ GERALD, L. W. ANDERSON.

